In a harshly worded fund raising letter sent to members of John Edwards's 2008 presidential campaign e-mail list late this afternoon, his new Campaign Manager, former Congressman David Bonior (D-MI), holds little back in his sharp criticism of both George W. Bush and Democratic members of Congress for their Iraq War policies and politics. (Email posted in full at end of this article.)

The email --- with the eye-popping, if impolitic, subject line "Total Bull" --- first takes aim at Bush's recent pronouncements, as reported by U.S. News and World Report and elsewhere after Bush's appearance on CBS' 60 Minutes last Sunday, "that Congress does not have the power to stop his proposed escalation of the war in Iraq."

"That's bull," Bonior writes before going on in the email to criticize his former Democratic colleagues in Congress, taking them to task for their failure to "step up to the plate and use their power to stop the president from escalating the war."

"I can assure you that Congress does have the power to stop this escalation," says the 26-year former Congressman.

"Some [in Congress] are calling for symbolic statements that do nothing to stop the escalation," he writes. "If you hear a member of Congress say 'non-binding resolution,' then you're really hearing them say 'pass the buck.'"

"And some members of Congress are waiting for --- well, we don't know what they're waiting for."

Citing Edwards's position "calling on Congress to stand up and take responsibility by using its power to prevent this war from getting any worse," Bonior goes on to announce the campaign's plan to run a full page ad in Roll Call, with a petition against the escalation and the "tens of thousands" of signatures from supporters who've signed it. The e-mail asks supporters to contribute money as well towards purchase of the ad.

Edwards's short petition, which can be signed here, calls on Congress to block funding for Bush's escalation plan. It reads in full:

I am opposed to President Bush's plan to send additional troops to Iraq. Congress must act now to block funding of Bush's escalation of the war — and demand that the President provide a plan to leave Iraq.

LATE RELATED-ISH UPDATE:First Zogby poll out of Iowa shows Edwards leading the Dem pack with 27%. Far ahead of "second tier dog-fight" between Obama, Hillary, and home state Gov. Vilsack. No big surprises on the Republican side with McCain and Giuliani duking it out, though Newt coming in an eyebrow-raisingly close third place. (Thanks reader TC for the tip.)

The e-mail sent to supporters via the JohnEdwards.com mailing list follows in full below...

it's so easy to shoot your mouth off when you are unemployed.
when you don't have to weedle at least 11 republicans to your side to get the needed votes.
From what I've read of Edwards time in the senate he was Mr. conservative when he bothered to show up.
I guess he was practicing for his coming unemployment.

He's not unemployed. I wonder how much you actually know about John Edwards. As a military family, I very much appreciate that he releases Bush's' decisions cannot be trusted and its time for everyone in any position to speak up and stop this insanity. They are destroying our military and begging for a draft. So unless you are willing to go yourself, support anyone speaking out to stop the escalation. My military family member who was there all of 2005, will be the first to tell you it was a waste of lives, money, weaponry and infrastructure.

"From what I heard"... that is the stupidest cop out you freaks use. You don't "learn" anything, you just "hear" "stuff".

Well, Mr. Edwards, the EMPLOYED ATTORNEY is right.
The Bush administration is running a DISINFORMATION campaign on this one hoping it sticks like all the other "stuff" they throw at the wall hoping it sticks.

The only people it "sticks" on is people who are not so shiny clean...

Here is testimony from BEFORE THE WAR, and in the PRESIDENT'S REPRESENTATIVE'S OWN WORDS BEFORE THE SENATE JUDICIARY:

Alright, maybe I'm naive. Why does Edwards need to take an ad out in a newspaper to say anything to members of Congress? Isn't he a member of the Senate? Can't he use the xerox machine? What's the number of his resolution to stop this war? I haven't seen that listed yet and can't read the text.

It is really important that Edwards has not said, "The Democrats in Congress have the power to ...".

The Congress has the power. Its in Article I, Section 8 ...

The Congress shall have Power
...
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

Certainly it will take an over-ride of a Presidential veto, and so it may not have the votes to get enacted. But the American Public have the right to see who is on the side of a real, actual "NO" to escalation, and which are only interested in playing, "read the polls and pass the buck".

Of course, it is already well known that when asked to fund the war, Edwards voted against funding. But using the power of the purse means waiting until the troops are already in place, and then the administration is in position to use their favorite game of making the troops on the ground the hostages for their policy.

So, whether they can count on the votes to over-ride the veto right now is not the point ... they should try to directly limit the escalation now, before it has been completed. Put it to the test.

Seems like many in congress are busy with "business as usual" garbage again. Every day now I am hearing something stupid. Anti-DRM, Anti-NetNeutrality, Now they want to mess with blogs. By creating a new beaurocracy, feel like registering your blog with the government now?

I don't. I'll make the fucker anonymous, with no logs outside of the US before that shit.

How much longer till they waste time on the Gun Control, The Gay Marriage, Abortion again, and again, and again.

Seems they never will fix the electronic voting problem, or hold the executive accountable for fucking up the constitution and making this god damned war.

Seems, we are doomed to repeat history again and again, even MLK day reminded us of just how much crap is going back to the way it was.

Okay, pull the funding, ...but that's only a possible brake on escalation. As with Iran-Contra, Congress can PASS A LAW making it illegal to participate in military action in Iraq. THAT would put Bush to the test!

At this point, I doubt that more than a handfull of members of Congress are serious about acting to stop the conflict. Iraq is about OIL and MONEY. The wealthy of this nation are again using war to create immense wealth. Check out the economic status of the 535 members of Congress; mostly millionaires, Repubs and Demos alike. As the Oil Companies' stocks go up, the wealthy grow rich. --All while our taxes fund this little incursion. CAN MILLIONAIRES EFFECTIVELY REPRESENT YOU AND ME? Hardly. We've long since lost any real representation.

Iraq is history's greatest Robinhood-in-Reverse scheme: Steal from the poor, and give to the rich. Our democracy is long gone. The only chance for its retrieval is people in the streets. Congress is in the hands of the Multi-national corporations, with the Big Oil leading the pack.

We, the people, have a lot of work ahead, if democracy is to be regained. First, peole must learn what's really going on. Then, the anger can lead to some purposeful direction.

It's going to be harder, with no press coverage, --but with each additional criminl step on the part of BushCo, the people are getting wiser and angrier. The question continues to be, --will we wait for too long before we learn enough to finally get serious? Or, are too many of us too comfortable, and too uninformed to act? Congress is no less a problem than the Executive Branch. (And how're we doing in the Judicial Branch?) Washington cannot be relied upon for anything except more of the same.

It is likewise BULL that John Edwards cannot help his sick neighbors get healthcare services in his home state of North Carolina. I understand John Edwards cares about the war. Does he care that his neighbors cannot go to the doctor in NC without the doctor being hauled in front of the North Carolina Medical Board for humanely treating Lyme Disease? John Edwards is forcing his two Americas on his sick backyard neighbors in addition to trying to end the war.

There was a study some time ago that concluded that the American public will tolerate a war as long as less than eight percent of Americans are affected by the casualty rate.

You can be sure that the Administration has seen that study.

There are about 80,000 mercenaries in Iraq, paid by the US military. A large percentage of the ground troops are Hispanic. Americans remain largely unaffected by the war in Iraq. As long as the very smart people in power continue to maintain this situation, they can keep the war going and plan for new ones. War has been outsourced.

Most Americans implicitly support the ongoing wars for conquest of the Middle east's oil resources. After all, nobody is going to stop driving SUV's anytime soon.

Iran will be the big test. My cluephone tells me to bet that Russia will never allow Iran to be attacked and conquered by America. Funny how nobody is threatening to invade Russia because they are selling anti-aircraft systems to Iran. Oh, wait...if America attacks Russia (or North Korea, or China) that eight percent of Americans affected by the casualty rate would be achieved in less than a week.

Good points. It is not good to trust the dribble of a politico during an election to establish the fine points of constitutional law.

The abstract concept of congressional power comes from the text of the Constitution as you pointed out. Same with the presidency.

At first blush it is abundantly clear that one congress differs from another, and one president differs from another as well.

Another clue is the each president and congress has a number. The last congress was the 109th and this one is the 110th. They are different. The last president was Bill Clinton, and the current one is George Bush. They differ.

Thus, what any president or any congress has "power to do" is a mix of the abstract with the reality ... the make-up of the congress being discussed is the main consideration.

Congress has power, in reality, to do only what its membership is willing to do.

The noise going around right now is all the rust falling to the floor ... rust that gathered from lack of use of the powers of oversight, etc. The rubber stamp 109th congress let the oversight mechanism rust over.

The moderate republicans who are siding with the dems against the Iraq debacle have an eye on '08. They should be aware that the destruction of the republican party from public service in any significant degree, in the congress and the presidency, is set to happen.

The American voting public is ready to lynch the republican party for allowing the neoCon right wing fanatics to take over the party.

And thus within the GOP there is a rebellion to the neoCon infection.

Power is flowing back into the 110th congress and away from the presidency.

The bottom line is not whether or not the congress, in the abstract, has the power, instead the bottom line question is "When will the power flowing back into the congress get back to normal levels and potency".

It is heading in that direction, and when it does get back to normal, the president and vice president have an ass kicking coming.

The 'Surge' aka 'The 10% solution' is going forward. Currently, approximately 200,000 soldiers fight for 'democracy' in Iraq [roughly US troops + foriegn troops + paid mercenaries (i.e. Blackwater)]. So, the President's solution is to add 10% more (20,000 troops). Even assuming these extra troops perform 100% efficient, things will merely get 10% better in Iraq. Will 10% be worth the continuing carnage of American soldiers? Don't look to the Democrats for help. They will sit idly by as they did when the gov't suspended habeas corpus, opened mail, banned the novel "America Deceived" from Amazon, stole private lands, conducted illegal wire-taps and continues wars in the Middle East based on a false-flag event known as 9/11. If the Democrats cannot stop the current 10% increase in this war, then they will never stop 100% of this war.
Only remaining link (until the gov't pulls the novel off Google Books):America Deceived (book)

Isn't it amazing how many of our tax dollars end up paying ignorant fools to "blog" against anybody who's against Bushco?

If it were HARD to pick out the shills, the "Comments" section of all the political "blogs" would be of some interest. As it is, BRAD, you'll have to begin adding a "spoiler" line above the Rovian shill "comments." How about "OFF SUBJECT" or "FAUX COMMENT" or "YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK."

Another AMAZING thing is how they manage to be first, or nearly first, when an article is POSTED! It isn't censorship when you dump the garbage. And anything not related to the POSTED article (like character assassination) SHOULD BE DUMPED!

Anytime I actually BOTHER to read the "COMMENTS" I am reminded why no one should. BRADBLOG: keep it pertinent or drop the "COMMENTS" altogether, including this one!

Edwards For Potus: Great comment! I always notice the shills are names I've never seen before, and they do get the first comments in. Shills are a sign of a good blog, though. What are the odds that "one-timer" comments are always Limbaugh/Hannity-esque talking points???

Congress is going to do big nada.Just like in the past,they all dance to the fidle of the diktate.
Most of the congress people are doing nothing as expected.Democracy??? What is that?or was is das?
Big ball of illusion.Most in senate represent their own
agendas.They could not give a shit about american people and the ones that do are deep in the closet.
Good bye democracy.helooooo diktatorship .Sounds like
present America???Perhaps the senate should start looking in to NEW DICTATORSHIP times ahead.Bushes 10%
increase in troops is a joke.Just check some Vietnam statistics and compare.George and his pack watch tooo much holllywwood shit .Keep dreaming GEORGE THE GREAT.

How many people on this site WANT it to be about all the progressive issues it can (like this one) and how many would rather that Brad (and his team, and US when we are here) concentrate on ELECTORAL REFORM --- the issue in which he has the strongest BRAND and the one that matters more than any single other issue?

Just curious.

I have suggested this before, and never got much feedback.

"BradBlog.com: The best website for the truth about electoral reform, bar none." THAT SHOULD BE THE BRAND.

Hey amigo your congress bimbos will not do shit for you.In 2008 there will be more idiots representing their own agendas.Do you think that most of this parasites care about your wiev points.Ha ha ha welcome
to the black house.Do what we tell you or else.You really dont think what the new kid around the block have to say.Do ya?First and most foremost get rid of the old farts in the senate. They are umbaresement to the universe.Democrats republicans?no diffrence send them to the unemployment line.They cant think enymore.Perhaps to much hormone polluted shit they have been eating? Get some young kids to represent the future of your kids,Preferably ones that do not come from money?The senators of today represent GREED exception few.Most in todays senate have nothing to offer,except bullshit.Vote them out in the neer future.

Personally I like the diversity of issues here. Once in a great while there is something posted in which I have either no interest or no time to read about at the moment. No biggie, I just skip those posts and/or comments, or skim and go back later to the stuff that I find interesting.

I still recommend this URL to those with whom I've had face to face conversations as a starting point for information about evoting issues, but I don't feel the other 'stuff' detracts from the blog at all.

There are plenty of sites out there that deal exclusively with election integrity issues - VotersUnite.org, VoteTrustUSA.Org, and Velvet Revolution, to name a few.

Also on the Republican side is Texas Congressman Ran Paul. The Republican Establishment will try to shunt him to the side. But there is a deep well of bile directed at neo-conservatives (R-socialist/war mongers)among the rank and file of the Republican party. This should be intesting; a Constitutionalist who has voted against the Iraq war in primary contests against Newt, Guliani, Brownback.

Charlie --- I hate branding. Brad has a fine and unique site. I'm quite certain that it is well-known to go here for good, documented election integrity material --- mountains of it. Brad's intelligence and hard work has paid off, and he didn't have to brand it. The mix is healthy, IMO, and it is all related. It's a unique site that really can't be branded. That's one of the things I like about it. Besides, it attracts a kind of beautiful funky crowd. What can I say? Brad's doing something (actually a lot of things) right.

Of course, Brad can do anything he likes. He can decide tomorrow to devote all his space to hula hoops. It would be disappointing to me, but it's his call.

In the '08 election 21 republican senators are on the re-election block, as is the presidency.

The president's "policies", arrogance, incompetence, giving of the finger to America, lack of understanding of english, and lack of sense of anything, will doom these fellows ... and they know it.

They are grappling with denial as we speak ... but some of them get it. Hagel, Brownback, Snowe, and some others.

They seek to avoid the destruction of the republican party from the minds, hearts, and respect of the American people.

It has already been done, but they have two years to change the minds of the public.

And to do that ... they must dump the fools in the WH.

It is the season of the Greens, Libertarians, Independents ... so long as they are not de facto neoCons.

The dems are going to pick up 10 of those 21 available seats ... 11 remain for the others.

It remains to be seen if the Greens, Libertarians and Independents will realize that their opening in the '08 elsection is based on an attack against the republicans ... and if they realize they must leave the dems alone this time ... ie. stopping their incessant persecuting of the dems ...

I predicted the '06 "landslide" in posts here in '05 ... and I am predicting this '08 election event in '07 posts here ...